We tasted the 2010 Line Shack Roussanne at the Chicago Woot Gathering about a month ago. Here are my notes:
Line Shack Roussanne 2010
Lovely floral nose with lots of peach and a bit of citrus. Taste very much of peach, apricot, and a bit of honey. Nice acid, crisp and well balanced, with some nice body.
I’ve not had much Roussanne in the past. For me, this falls in the same nose/palate family as a nice Viognier. I would pair this with a panang curry chicken with jasmine rice, and actually wish I’d had a bottle to go with the curry I had last Friday night. The slightly less detailed version of my notes read “Yum…Buy”. I think I will. Now I just need to figure out if there’s anything else I want to order today (or wait to see tomorrow’s goodies).
According to the winemaker this is 20% Viognier, which complements and helps accentuate the stonefruit and floral aspects of Roussanne. I, too, had this at a w00t gathering and quite liked it.
I’d say it’s more similar than different. Texture, acidity and balance are similar; the Lineshack has more floral aromas and is a little bit lighter in body.
Ah, yes!! I had in the back of my head that there was Viognier in this Roussanne, but I wasn’t sure of the percentage and didn’t want to misquote. Thank you for confirming!
I’ve only had Peter’s 2008 Roussanne as a comparison (and CT says I polished those off a little over a year ago), but my cellar tracker notes seem to agree with Peter’s assessment. The Line Shack is probably a bit more floral, both have nice fruit/acidity, Peter’s with perhaps a bit more body.
I stopped by the Bodegas tasting room in downtown Paso on Friday and had a taste of the Alb… A tasty white with some zing… peach/apricot and citrus with just a tinge of sweetness. A nice white for this time of year…
Hi, Bob Balentine here, winemaker at Line Shack Winery in Paso Robles. We did use 20% viognier to pop those aromatics and add a bit of complexity. Stainless steel fermented with no oak to showcase the wonderful aromatics. Awesome Thanksgiving day food wine. Very clean and crisp. My favorite white.
Forgot to mention we won Best of Class two years in a row with this wine at the California International Wine Competition at the Sacramento Fair You wont be dissapointed.
I am tempted by the Albarino but I also know that the costco 4 blocks from my house has three nice spanish albarinos in the $12-13 range. Why should should I go for these at roughly $3 more a bottle.
My humble/shill opinion: It’s a different level of wine.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Rias Baixas Albariño, especially in the summer time… crisp, refreshing and affordable. I’ll usually go for a Spanish Alb before a similarly priced domestic Sauvignon Blanc.
That said…
This is different animal. Albariño grapes grown in California-different terroir, new-world winemaking style as opposed to old-world.
IMHO, this wine has more layers and complexities than the average Spanish Albariño. More layers of fruit: green apple/pear/stone fruit (apricot/peach), heavier mouthfeel and viscosity, a tinge of sweet,- It really feels like it’s an ‘Autumn White’.
This wine is $22 per bottle at the winery, and I’d gladly pay that for a white with this much going on. And at the Woot price? Most definitely…
Thanks for the feedback.
I decided to go in for a set for my wife for xmas, I think she will like it. The three months in oak scared me but it seems like it might be a nice change of pace.